The Chargers put a 1st and 3rd round tender on restricted free agent Michael Turner. If he’s to sign with another team, that team will have to give up a 1st and 3rd round pick, which is a pretty steep price for a back who is unproven as a lead guy. Turner could still be traded, and it’s not hard to trade a player in the last year of his contract, but it now looks like Turner will be back in San Diego. They did the right thing for their 2007 season, but Turner will be free to sign elsewhere this time next year, so they might not have done the right thing for their organization, as an extra #1 pick would have been much more valuable for this team over the long haul. Free agent RB Dominic Rhodes is happy about this news, but the Jets aren’t expected to show much interest in him or veteran Ahman Green. So unless they can pull off a trade for Turner, Willis McGahee, or Thomas Jones, expect the Jets to use their #1 pick on a back.

The Ravens released RB Jamal Lewis, which was expected. Lewis was a free agent this time last year, so it’s not that big of a deal. He’ll likely re-sign with the Ravens. He’ll be hard-pressed to A) find another serious suitor and B) find a team he could start for. I just happened to read an old e-mail from a reader who claimed to witness Lewis chain-smoking at a Baltimore area nightclub during the 2006 season. I don’t know why someone would make that up, so I threw it out there. Take that for what it’s worth, which isn’t very much, I would imagine.

I mentioned a few times how I felt QB Jeff Garcia wasn’t exactly the priority some Eagle fans made him out to be and that was clear when the team re-signed A.J. Feeley. Keep in mind the team was divided on who should replace starter Donovan McNabb when he got hurt. I think Garcia was on something of a short leash when he replaced McNabb; he just happened to play well so we never heard any Feeley rumblings. I would not be surprised at all if they were protecting McNabb a little bit by basically closing the door on Garcia. I like McNabb, but he is something of a prima donna, and I don’t think he would react very well to anything close to a QB controversy.

I just can’t get excited about the Chiefs paying Damon Huard and potentially closing the door on Trent Green (who is already the subject of trade rumors and has already been linked to Miami). Keeping Huard as a stopgap for youngster Brodie Croyle and getting rid of Green – who making a lot of money and who played poorly last year – is probably the right football move for this team. But if I was a Chief fan, I wouldn’t be very excited about this team’s future. They have a potentially ugly situation with RB Larry Johnson’s salary, an O-Line that is shaky, still have the worst WRs corps in football, and have an old secondary. Now it looks like they will roll with a journeyman 34-year old QB whose play over the course of a full season won’t likely be as good as it was for a 7-8 game stretch last year. Good luck with all that, KC.